MUSTAFIZUR RAHMAN
Eyes were blinked, heads were scratched and a sense of confusion
seemed to spread across the Mirpur press box as soon as Bangladesh's
team for the first ODI against India was announced yesterday.
Out of the blue, the Tigers had decided to field four specialist
pacers, a decision which came as a surprise due to a number of reasons.
For one, the bowler who was replaced -- Arafat Sunny -- did little wrong
in the last few matches. He was, in fact, the highest wicket-taker in
the Pakistan series.
Secondly, the pacer who came in place of him, Mustafizur Rahman, had played just one T20I prior to the match yesterday.
Now this wasn't the first time that Bangladesh had employed four
specialist pacers in their side, but it has been a while since the home
crowd got to witness such a combination.
The last time Bangladesh's pacers bowled more than 35 overs in an ODI
at home was back on December 26, 2004 with Khaled Mahmud, Mashrafe Bin
Mortaza, Tapash Baisya and Nazmul Hossain forming Bangladesh's attack
against India. Incidentally, Bangladesh went on to win that game at the
Bangabandhu National Stadium.
There was always a chance to use the left-handed Mustafizur as a
surprise element in this series, however to go with him in the very
first match -- instead of a more sedate and safe segment of the
competition -- was a move that not many had expected.
But then again, expecting the unexpected has seemed to be the motto
of the Chandika Hathurusingha-led team management, ever since the Sri
Lankan took over in June last year.
The last year has witnessed the team management employ a number of
moves that one can't generally associate with the men in green. They
have been more aggressive, and the urge to win seems to have doubled.
Right from smothering the Indians with pace and bounce in June last
year -- in an attempt to play to their weakness -- to stepping out of
the mentality of filling the eleven with slow left-armers, there's been
this conscious effort to change the look of the team.
In fact, the changed mindset was witnessed in the lone Test against
India as well. Bangladesh's team management decided to field just one
pacer and four spinners -- a move that came under heavy scrutiny.
However, from the way Ravi Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh turned the ball
in the latter days of that Test in Fatullah, one could say that the
objective there too was to go on an all-out attack against the visitors;
to go with the only tactic that could give them a possible win.
Yesterday was no different. The only reason why Mustafizur was
brought in was because the management wanted to hurt India at their most
vulnerable point of the series -- right at the beginning.
They decided to bring in a bowler that India had never seen before;
they wanted to make the visiting batsmen pay for all those extra hours
they put in against slow left-armers in the nets.
'Guess what? We just have one slow left-armer in the side. Now here's a dose of our pacers' was the message.
There's no doubt that a certain amount of risk remains in these
tactics. But in circumstances like these, it's not the result that
matters, but the thinking; the ideas behind the moves; an aspect that
has provided Bangladesh's fans with some much-needed fresh air in the
last one year.
